States Skeptical Feds Can Create Exchanges

Kendall Antekeier joined The Heartland Institute in June 2011 as the Legislative Specialist on Health Care. Kendall's responsibilities include interacting with elected officials and staff on health care issues; tracking new legislation; and drafting responses to emerging issues via talking points, news releases, and op-ed pieces, with the goal of educating legislators and informing them about free-market ideas.

Prior to becoming a member of the Heartland staff, Kendall graduated from Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana in 2011. There she earned a dual-degree in political science and communication studies, as well as completed scholarly research on the film Frost/Nixon, evaluating its implications regarding the relationship between journalists and politicians. As a student, Kendall worked with the Saint Joseph County Republican Party in South Bend, Indiana, aiding the Party's communication efforts by reporting on both local and national issues and facilitating contact with County candidates. She also held a communication internship position at WZZM 13 News in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

There are several reasons why the establishment of federally run health insurance exchanges seems unlikely, and more and more states are starting to call the federal government’s bluff.

One of the most major and obvious reasons is the the federal government does not have the funds to establish federal exchanges. Section 1311 of the federal health law provides for federal subsidies of state health insurance exchanges, but no such funding exists for federally run exchanges. This “error” in the law (yet another one) will require the law to be reopened so that Congress can pass new appropriations, which in this political climate may be unlikely. At the very least it would be near impossible to accomplish before the federal deadline.

An extremely detailed Kaiser Health Report, produced in collaboration with The Washington Post, outlines a variety of other reasons why implementation of a federal health insurance exchange seems to be a hollow threat.

States Skeptical Feds Can Create Exchanges was last modified: January 31st, 2013 by Kendall Antekeier